Friday, August 31, 2007

Tiger Island

The past couple of weeks have whizzed by and although we have been back from the Isle of Wight for a week I seem barely to have had time to draw breath. We had a lovely week on the Isle of Wight, where there was something for everyone in the family to enjoy. We saw model trains at Fort Victoria, real steam trains, the girls had a horse riding lesson and there were tigers galore:

The Isle of Wight Zoo at Sandown has the largest number of tigers in one place in Europe and they were beautiful. Even though they are in captivity and far removed from their natural habitat, they are at so much risk in their natural habitat that at least here they are safe. There was a white tiger, Zena, and Diamond, a beautiful tiger who has no black stripes owing to a form of leucism (the gene which cause the white colouring):

We managed some swimming in the sea and went to see The Needles, an iconic view of the Isle of Wight:

Carisbrooke Castle was another fantastic visit, with plenty to keep the children entertained and you can walk right round the ramparts, which is quite unusual: I did loads of knitting in the evenings. Baby kimono fever still has me in its grip and these three are all for Brigid's appeal. First up we have one in Rowan Designer DK (a yarn that has been long discontinued):

and then one in Lorna's Laces Shepherd worsted:

and finally one in some handspun cotton left over from another project:

We all thoroughly enjoyed our time on the island and plan to go back before too long as there is so much to see and do:

Love the baby kimonos - I can see they would be addictive ! Looking forward to seeing you on Wednesday at Stash ( I managed to sneak some time there yesterday and it was great to knit and chat with knitters again - I so miss it over the holidays!) Fiona x